The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-12-09
SPRINGSTEEL.


piled objectionable in any society, and
only 10 be atoned with blood in the wild
code of the frontier
Instantly the hand Of each disputant
flew to his revolver, and the crowd before
the gambling house bar swayed back on
either side for what was deemed the in
evitable killing that must ensue.
The quarrel was between Luke Baldwin
and Grant Battersby, snrnamed Spring
steel Grant. until recently pards' aud
ehums, now, through moments diler
ence and those Illuminating epithets Oh the
pat of the former apparently transformed
into enemies 10 the death.
Baldwin was fair faced youth OF % or
g, frank, generous and impulsive by
nature though at present maddened by
liquor and fancied iBdigrity, his oppo
nent and whilOm mentor, veteran from
tiersman priced as friend, dreaded as "a
foe-cOol card, iron will, dead shot.
Luke was the cleyerer in first whipping
out his revolver and bringing il to a muir
derous leyel-or mas it that the other had
purposely delayed the customarily light
ming like and deadly movement on his
own part
Luke gave an exulting laugh
"Springsteel, your games up" he
sneered Lie down and take a bleed''
Snap the treacherous cartridge had
failed, the weapon missed fire.
Then. like n flash, the veteran shooter
flew 10 the level the iron lines of his
handsome face frightened and darkened,
his gray eyes took on the cold glitter OF a
steel blade in action
There was not a movement in the crowd
Of onlookers Springfield has got him
dead and it's his own fault % was the
general, If not expressed, verdict, aud you
could have heard "A pin drop.
The prospective victim was game
Though deathly pale, lac had folded his
arms and stood waiting, without hope,
but without fiinching.
Springsteel's invariable shot was for
the heart, and he had never been known
10 miss or let up
Was an unheard Of miracle working, or
was that. indeed. sOftness creeping into
the iron face, moistness into the there
tofore memorable eyes
At all events, the shot was not fred;
the weapon was lowered and returned to
its receptacle.
Luke Baldwin" said Battersby. with
give you back the life You have forfeited,
reserving my right TO claim ON demand
the shot that is my due ! could have
bored bullet through yOu without com
Function, but for the photography you
wear over your heart That ! could not
mutilatc-it is sacred. "
He turned on his heel and strobe away.
Luke Baldwin had sunk into a seat and
was looking dazed.
He was regarded as a temporarily for
tunate, though none the less doomed, man
for there was no denying the right that
Battersby had reserved for himself a
sort Of quit claim or death note on de
mand that was everywhere recognized as
the unwritten code OF the border, though
the circumstances of the Indebtedness
were at best unusual, and in such case
as this unprecedented
In fact, Springstcel's unlocked for leni-
ency, apart from the mysterious allusiOn
10 the photograph, was the wondering
talk OF an hour in Hank IIammOnd's
Deadwood hotel.
Doubtless an old time love scrape be
tween 'em. Mebbe they'd both loved the
same gal, an Springsteel he'd given up to
the other though not much on Spring
steels style, eh0, an then she'd died back
there in the states, an that was why they
chummed IL together so long up yonder in
Scorpion Gulch, though Luke, never any
thing but a freshly, an Springfield old
enough to be his dad. "
Something like the foregoing was the
prevailing impression involved out OF the
guesswork over the affair, and then 1t
was forgotten.
Partly sobered, Luke Baldwin had
sought his room in the top story Of the
hotel not far away.
He dropped into chair beside the
wash stand-the only other piece Of fur
niture, barring the iron bedstead, with its
coarse provisions for n 'transient's" &C
eommodation-tOoka drink from a black
bottle that had just been sent up from the
bar, and, by the light Of a guttering tai
low candle, the only artificial illumination
with which sky parlor guests were sup
piled at the Alabama, az the hotel had
been rather ironically designated-with
or without intentOn-fell 10 thinking
hard.
How madly he had acted, how narrow
had been his escape from death, and with
what unexpected magnanmity Spring
ol'ti iltit bNuA'tNs
Should lie not seek him out at once up
at Spanish Peters pavilion, where he was
staying acknowledge the fault and be
seech his forgivennessf'
No; he knew the man too well.
While true in his friendships as the sig
nihcance Of his surname-as the unap
proachable spring steel Of Damascus
blade-he was also, in enmities, as keen,
AS implacable as deadly.
While Grant Bat.srsby had never been
known to betray pledge, neither had he
ever been known TO pass an insult anre-
sented 10 the death And Liar
Coward 10 be applied TO such mana
man with long list VI deadly encounters
10 his credit, in not one Of which he had
failed 10 do" for his man
The young man sighed as he dismissed
the idea from his mind as wholly imprac-
ticable
Then he drew from bis bosom the